Marylyn Bielfelt

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.


Most of you who are accessing this site are aware of Marylyn's story, but here's a brief recap to date:


On Monday, December 2, Marylyn had a fall from the attic ladder (we know, we know - WHY was she up there?), and landed on the concrete garage floor resulting in a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). She was taken by EMS to University Hospitals Trauma ICU where she remained until being moved to a Step-down unit on Saturday, December 7. Her initial condition seemed grim, though not atypical of TBI - high agitation and aggression, incoherence, disorientation and confusion. There was a laceration at the back of her head (which received attention), and a brain bleed that originated in the frontal lobe. Subsequent CT scans indicated a cessation of bleeding, and diffuse spread of the blood and swelling throughout the brain. The "tincture of time" is what the doctor said would be the driving piece of her healing.


Day by day, there have been baby steps forward accompanied by many frustrations and challenges. Family advocacy has been imperative. Art, Paula and Marla met with the director of Cleveland Clinic Rehabilitation Hospital yesterday, and he is beginning the paperwork to get her transferred there. Our experience at UH has been less than awesome, and we are anxious to have her moved to a facility where she will be receiving care and therapies that will move the ball forward in a more consistent manner.


I'll be posting a couple of pictures that illustrate her progress, once I figure out how to do that. Yesterday, and again this morning, she was chair dancing and shoulder-shimmying to Tom Jones' (as sung by Paula and Marla) "She's A Lady". Can't wait to have our party/leisure girl back in full swing!